Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys, I have been breeding corns for years so I am not a total newbie, but I am sure there are quite a few differences between corns and milks. I have 0.1 '03 anery hondo het hypo. I really wanted to get a ghost male or hypo het anery male to breed her with but I don't know if I will have the $$ this year. I was planning on breeding her when she is 3 (although she is already getting HUGE, just about ready to eat adult mice). Would it be Ok to wait one more year to get the male and do the pairing when the male is a yearling and the female is a 3 year old? I know it is a little risky to expect a male corn to reach sexual maturity in one year, but it can be done. However, my female hondo seems to grow much faster than the corns. This leads me to believe maybe my chances of getting a male yearling hondo to breed are a little better. Am I way off? Comments please...
Thanks,
Carol

If you get a male that grows very rapidly he may complete the mission. But you know if she ends up throwing a bad clutch most people will probably suggest the male was too young. My female Hondo hit 54-56 inches in 18 months, the male was more like 48. Regardless they bred and I got eggs but only time will tell if theyre good. I would keep my eye out for a yearling or adult, better yet proven male from a well known breeder like Shannon or Terry and better the odds for success. I would definitely not buy anything but a hatchling from anyone without references,good luck Tom

>>Would it be Ok to ... do the pairing when the male is a yearling and the female is a 3 year old?

Carol,

We can never say "never". But there's little evidence to suggest your efforts would succeed. I sold one of the first pinstriped hypos to a fella years ago who checked (as do I) the sperm deposited after every copulation. The snake grew rapidly and was big enough to breed at 10 months, so he tried it. He was very experienced at checking & evaluating sperm, and told me that he saw good sperm in at least three diff females he bred it to. I think he was expecting 30 babies, something like that, because the eggs looked good when deposited. But over time all of them, or all but one or two, i forget which, went bad. his conclusion, and i think it makes sense, was that although the male deposited sperm, and although the sperm looked normal & healthy, it probably lacked necessary vigor, probably because of the male's age.

I've never tried a one year old. It's quite reasonable to hope for a 2-year-old (18-20 months) to breed, but they are not always reliable either. While the majority of my males can breed at 20 mos, i've had two year old and even three year old males either show no interest in females OR go thru all the motions but not deposit good sperm OR appear to deposit good sperm that didn't yield babies.

If i were you, I wouldn't waste a nice female on a 1-yr-old. There's always a greater risk of eggbinding, too, imho, when a female's carrying (soft) slugs vs firm, good eggs. So ry to find a subadult this year that meets your needs.

good luck!
terry